Pokemon and Veganism

   I recently grabbed a shiny new 3DS XL and a copy of Pokemon Y (I chose Y because I have a Y chromosome and I'm part of Generation Y, which seemed like good enough reasons at the time. Plus Pokemon X sounds like the title of a bad horror film). It's the first Pokemon title I've ever played, and I'm a bit glad that I've held off playing any Pokemon games until now, it means that I'm coming at the game with a fresh perspective that's currently running through the filter of a newly minted vegan.

   Before I started experimenting with veganism, even way back in my early teen years when Pokemon was first becoming a big deal, it always gave me a creepy sort of animal fighting vibe. Which isn't a problem itself, I have no problem with games featuring morally reprehensible elements, for the purposes of artistic merit, or just because taboo subjects can be fun. I'm extremely good at separating fantasy from reality, and a person who's familiar with how ethical a person I am might be surprised at the almost paradoxical way I love games that feature questionable content. I'm currently playing Grand Theft Auto V (that's a Roman 5, not the letter V; thanks for muddying that particular water Pokemon), it's as morally reprehensible as a game can be. It's also a crap load of fun. The only thing I feel when I accidentally run down a pedestrian in the game is the slight rumble of my Dual Shock controller. It's a silly game, and it encourages the (adult) player to act and feel equally silly. Some games with adult content take a different tack and challenge the player with some very pointed moral questions, such as the incredible Spec Ops: The Line. But these are adult games with adult ratings, they certainly aren't for children. Pokemon is a PG rated game, marketed at and sold in huge quantities to children. Honestly, I'm not sure how I feel about that just yet, and I might have more on that later...

   For now, I'm enjoying Pokemon Y in a way that was probably not intended by the designers. I'm getting a delightfully perverse sense of entertainment out of completely misinterpreting the light and joyful atmosphere of the Pokemon world as the saccharine shell over a morally corrupt dystopia. I'm role-playing a complete bastard! An entitled little brat who wants to "Catch 'em all" at any cost, the only way to earn a modicum of respect in the Pokemon world. I'm viewing the NPCs as desperate people surviving in an economy entirely focused on the utility of the monsters they share their world with. Deluding themselves into thinking that the creatures they enslave are their "Friends", when the beasts would like nothing more than to tear the throats out of their captors and escape, if only the compulsive powers of that most nightmarish of devices, the Pokeball, would let them. The usual RPG idiosyncrasies, such as people parroting the same thing over and over only support the image of a mad world on the brink of collapse. The strange children who I've seen a few of now, who all walk around a small area in a square pattern for seemingly hours at a time are clearly the victims of a terrible illness of the mind, perhaps driven mad by the dark realities of the hell they live in.

   Okay, so I might have a bit of a dark sense of humour! I might be observing and enjoying satire where none is intended, but I think it's valuable to examine the media we consume from many different angles. The Pokemon brand has been around long enough that a fresh perspective is probably hard to come by. Especially when the person providing the perspective is experimenting with an ideology that finds the concept of animal slavery as a great unexamined evil of modern times.

  I might have more on this subject later. This was a bit rambly and aimless, but I'm finding the whole endeavour pretty interesting, so I expect I'll have some more focused thoughts later.

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